Metallic spring mattress



Feb. 3. 1925. 1,525,248

J. L. MCKELLAR METALLI C SPRING MATTRESS Filed Nov. 6, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 351g moana?,

Feb. 3. 1925. 1,525,248

J. L. MCKELLAR METALLIC SPRING MATTRES S Filed Nov. 6, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet `2 Cmo- I Y u um Patented Feb. 3, 1925,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.TUDSON L. MCKELLAR, OF BROOKLYN, Nllildll/v YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GASAU-THOMPSON COMPANY, INC., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

L'IETALLIC SPRING MATTRESS.

Application led November of which the fola very durable metallic spring matress capable of ready manufacture and not liable to; the sagging condition to which many spring matresses are subject. The main portion of my metallic spring mattress consists, in addition to the ordinary end rails and helical 'coils connected therewith, of a series of integral strands folded over at their middle portions to form two members, said strands at their folded over or bent portions being secured to one set of the helical coils and at their other end having their members secured together by clips and connected Vwith the other set of helical coils, said clipsbeing secured within such coils. The spring mattress of my invention also comprises a special disposition of the members of the strands, such members being held on repeating diverging angles so as to produce a diamond effect in the spring throughout the body portion thereof. One of the essential features of my invention and which adds greatly to the beneficial character of the structure as a whole, consists in the fact that the individual strands are not only continuous, but comprise an inner stout core of wire and an outer covering of closely coiled wires of smaller diameter enclosing such core.

The invention will `be fully understood from the detailed description! hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top view, partly broken away, of a metallic spring mattress or bed-bottom Improvements in Mey s, 1919. serial No. 336,153.

constructed in accordance with and embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a portion of the same and on a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section through a portion of the same, taken on the 'dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section lthrough a portion of the same, taken on the ydotted line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through a portion of the same, taken on the dotted line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a detached perspective view of one of the clip-blanks by which the free ends of the looped longitudinal strands of the spring may be lsecurely fastened tov gether, and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse section through a portion of the spring, taken on the dotted line 7-7 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 10 designates the two angle-iron end rails of the bed-bottom, these end-rails beingof usual construction and secured to the upper ends of the bracketarms 11 which are secured at their lower ends to the main connecting rods or siderails 12, as usual.

The spring portion of the bed-bottom is composed of a series of duplex strands 13 leach in one integral piece folded upon itself to form the two members 14, 15 which are integrally connected at one end by a bend or loop 16 and at their opposite end, this representing the two free ends of the strand, by means of metal clips 1T shown more fully in Figs. 3 to G inclusive, Each It will be obvious that the close l -the members of strand 18 is folded over at its middle portion to form the loop or bend 16, and the several strands at the loop or folded over portion 16 thereof are hooked upon the inner ends of helical springs 20, as shown in Fig. 1. The free ends of the members of the strands 13 are broughttogether, as shown in Fig. 3, and bound together by a sheet metal clip 17 whose initial form is somewhat in the outline of an inverted U, as shown in Fig. 6, the blank for the clip 17 having a top which is longitudinally grooved, as at 21, to form a rib entering partly between the members of the strand 13 and said clip also having side portions 22 adapted to pass upon the opposite sides of the ends of the members of the strand and be closely pinched around and upon the same so that finally the clip takes theoutline represented in Fig. 5- closely enceinpassing and binding against the free end portions of the strand: members 14, 15. In applying the clip 17 tol the ends of the strand members 14, 15 I not only firmly close the clip around the: said members, but crimp the clip and said end portions, as indicated at 23,. whereby I am enabled t0 so securely fasten the free ends of the strand members together that neither can pull out from the clip 17. One end of each strand 13 is fastened at its bent or folded over Amiddlel portion 1G by being hooked upon one of the helical springs 20, and the other end of each strand, adjacent to the clip 17, is fastened to a helical coil 24 by means of a rook 25 formed out of the wire of the coil and extending between the strand members ll, 15 adjacent to the clip 17, said clip 17 and the adjacent ends of the strand members 1-1, 15 being concealed within the coil 21, as shown in Fig. 3.

T he strands 13 are coimected together by .means of metallic stays 26, which are transversely disposed and. at suitable points, connect the member 14 of one strand with the member 15 of the adjacent strand, and at points between the several stays 2G the members of each strand are connected t0- gether by metallic stays 27. Throughout the main body of the mattress the members of the strands 13 are coiisiderably separated from each other and given a somewhat diamond effect from the fac-t that the stays 26 hold the members of the strands pulled outwardly from each other and that the stays 27 hold the members of each strand in a partly drawn together relation, as clearly represented in Fig. 1, and I have found that this diamond eflect distributed over the mattress by reason of the special relation of the stays 2G, 27 acting to hold vthe strands on diverging and converging lines approximating a diamond shape, adds greatly to the general character of the mattress as a spring support and also aids materially in preventing the sagging of the mattress. The construction is one presenting great durability, and its parts may be readily manufactured and assembled without undue expense. The durability and general' character of the spring is enhanced from the presence of the stout wire rod 18 within the members of the several strands and the fact that in the use of the mattress and the bending of the wire cores 18, the covering coils 19 may yield therewith and not only be supported thereby, but add support to the wire cores.

There are many advantages for using a finer wire tol form the wire coils and for closely winding this wire on the core. Among these advantages are the strength and durability of the resulting fabric without doing away with the proper resiliency thereof.

In, other words, the close winding of the wire coils very materially strengthens the fabric as compared with one in which the coils are not wound close. Not only this but the close winding of the coils enables the coils to maintain their position at all times so as not to move toward and from each other, whereas the coils of a loosely wound covering would move toward and from each other and not maintain their proper positions in use and would soon get out of shape. Moreover, the close-ly wound coils prevent the bed enamel in which the spring is dipped from getting on the inside of the coils where it would form in patches and be tacky and likely to run out at so-me time when the spring was in use to the injury of any fabric in contact therewith.

Moreover, the closely wound coils prevent vermin from 'getting on the inside of the coils, which would not@ be the case were the coils loosely wound. Furthermore, the closely wound coils enables a finer wire to be used than the core itself. The use of a heavy wire for the coils would not only be expensive `and diiicult to coil, but would make the spring too heavy to handle and too expensive to sell, whereas by winding the coils in close relation a finer wire can be used and yet have greater strength than a materially heavier wire loosely wound. Tere the coils loosely wound they would also stretch apart, and so move toward and from each other when the fabric was in use, and this movement of the coils toward and from each other would wear and also pinch the stuffed mattress fabric and t-end to tealr it, but by having the coils closely wound this disadvantage is entirely avoided, since there is no opportunity for the fabric to get between the coils.

Furthermore the closely wound coils enables the use of the clips or clamps hereinbefore referred to in a practical manner, which would not be possible with loosely wound coils, since the clamp would not hold securely on loosely Wound coils as these coils Would stretch. In short, by having the coils closely Wound they can be made of finer Wire, whereby they are more effectively Wound and the expense of the structure materially reduced, and yet that structure very materially strengthened, and these closely Wound coils so materially strengthen the structure that the sagging of the spring fabric is very materially prevented. In fact it has been found in practice that a spring fabric made up of the Wire cores alone would materially but with the spiral closely Wound coils thereon this sagging is to a large extent eliminated, thus materially strengthening the fabric and doing away with that objectionable sagging present in many spring mattresses, Without affecting the proper resiliency thereof.

Thus l am able to provide an improved fabric in which each lengthwise member comprises a single Wire core and finer Wire coils closely wound to form a spiral tubular covering materially strengthening the core and preventing undue sagging of the fabric without. affecting the proper resiliency thereof.

At its opposite side portions the mattress or bed-bottom is formed with strands 28, 29 which are identical With the strands 13, except that said strands 28, 29 have their members brought close together, so that the strands yare parallel with each other. The strands 28, 29 are connected together by stays 30, and the strands Q9 are connected by metallic stays 3l with one straight member of an adjoining strand 13. rihe ends of the strands 2S, 29 are connect-ed with helical springs 32, 343, respectively, which are secured to the head and foot angle-bars l0 and are closer together than the springs 2O so that at the side edges of the bed said strands 28, Q9 may afford a more rigid support than the strands occupying the main body of the mattress.

My invention therefore resides in a spring mattress or bed-bottom having rigid end rails or bars connected by the endless strands of the character hereinbefore described, each consisting of tivo members integrally connectcd at one end and secured together by a clip a t the other end, and each strand comprising an inne-r comparatively thick flexible strong wire core 1S and an outer covering 19 formed of materiali)v finer closely spirally coiled wires, and said strands being secured at opposite ends to helical coils and at intermediate portions by stays 26, 27, as hereinbefore described.

The helical spring coils, 20, 24, 32 and 33 are identical in construction and each thereof is formed with a hook, as 25, to engage the strands 13, 28 and 29, and the coils 24, 323 substantially conceal the clips employed to fasten the free ends of the members of the respective strands together.

Vilhat l claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

l. A spring fabric for spring mattresses made up of substantially parallel members, each comprising a stout central Wire core element, and a covering element of closely wound coils formed of a plurality of Wire strands on said core, one of said elements being inherently resilient.

2. A spring fabric for a spring mattress made up of substantially parallel members, cach comprising a stout central wire core element, and a covering element of closely Wound coils formed from a plurality of Wire strands, one of said elements being inherently resilient, and said coils being formed of Wire materiallyv finer than the Wire of said core.

3. A spring fabric for a spring mattress made up of substantially parallel members, each comprising a stout central Wire core, and an inherently resilient covering of closely Wound coils formed from a plurality of Wire strands on said core.

4. A spring fabric for a spring mattress made up of substantially parallel members, eac-h comprising a stout central Wire core and an inherently resilient covering of closely Wound coils formed from a plurality of Wire strands on said core, said coils being formed of Wire materially finer than the Wire of said core.

5. A spring fabric for a spring mattress made up of substantially parallel members each comprising a stout central Wire core element, and a covering element of closely Wound coils formed from a plurality of Wire strands on said core, one of said elements being inherently resilient, and metal clips clamped on the end portions of said members for binding them together.

6. A spring fabric for a spring mattress' made up of substantially parallel members each comprising a stout central Wire core element and a covering element of closely Wound coils formed from a plurality of Wire strands on said core, one of said ele,- ments being inherently resilient, and metal clips clamped on the end portions of said members for binding them together, the said coils being formed of Wire materially finer than the Wire of said core.

7. A spring fabric for spring mattresses made` from lengthwise extending Wire formed members, each comprising a stout central Wire core element, and a tubular covering element of loosely Wound spiral Wire coils loose on said core, one of said elements being inherently resilient.

8. A spring fabric for spring mattresses made up of lengthwise extending Wire members, each comprising a stout central Wire coil element and a tubular covering element Eil of Closely Wound Wire spiral coils loose 0n Kings Iand State of New York, this 311i said Core, said Covering element being indayof November, A, D. 1919.

hei'eniy resilient, and vthe strength O'f the coie be materially increased by l@he close JUDSON L. MCKELLAR.

Winding of the coils thereby preventing sag- /Vitnesses:

ging of the fabric. ARTHUR IVIARION, Signed at Brooklyn7 in the County of CHAS. C. GILL. 

